The College Basketball Invitational receives a fraction of the attention devoted to the NCAA Tournament — or even the NIT.
None of that matters to second-seeded UC San Diego, which will make its Division I postseason debut Saturday against No. 15 Chicago State in a first-round CBI matchup in Daytona Beach, Fla. The game tips at 12:30 p.m. PDT and will be available to stream at Flohoops.com.
The winner faces either Fairfield or Little Rock in Monday’s quarterfinals.
For coach Eric Olen’s team, the chance to keep playing — and perhaps even cut down nets — is a nice reward after going 21-11 overall and 15-5 in Big West Conference play. The Tritons were in the hunt for at least a share of the regular-season conference title until the final week and finished second behind UC Irvine.
Because the program is in the final year of a four-season probation period while completing the jump from Division II to Division I, the Tritons were not eligible to play in the NCAA or NIT tournaments.
The Big West elected to not invite them to the conference tournament — won by Long Beach State — either.
So, CBI it is.
“We’re thrilled to extend our season and I’m really proud of our guys for getting to play in such a competitive, quality event like the CBI,” Olen said. “I think we can learn a lot from it. Really proud of our effort through this conference season. I think we learned a lot going through the Big West season and being in contention, playing in big games that mattered late in February and March. And now the CBI can let us learn about being in a tournament setting, a lose-or-go home setting. Our guys are ready to go.”
Olen, who is completing his 11th season coaching the Tritons, was named Big West Coach of the Year. Senior guard Bryce Pope (Torrey Pines High School) was named first-team All-Big West and is a finalist for the Lou Henson Award, presented annually to the top player at the mid-major level
Pope averages 19.3 points per game while playing 36.5 minutes. His consistency mirrors that of the Tritons.
Olen started the same five players — Pope, junior guard Hayden Grey, junior guard/forward Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, junior forward Francis Nwaokorie and senior forward J’Raan Brooks — in every game. Junior guard Tyler McGhie came off the bench with great success; he won the Big West Sixth Man of the Year award.
The Tritons were the only team in their conference to garner multiple postseason awards.
Chicago State (12-18) plays as the nation’s only Division I independent and will be making its first postseason appearance since 2013.
The Tritons and Cougars will be meeting for the first time. Notably, Chicago State upset NCAA tournament participant Northwestern 74-64 on Nov. 14.
